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This House: James Graham’s smash-hit political drama to kick off West Yorkshire Playhouse’s Spring/Summer 2018 season ahead of a UK Tour

James Graham’s critically acclaimed and prescient political drama This House, which played to sold-out houses at the National Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and in the West End, will launch its first ever national tour from West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds on 23 February – 10 March 2018, with the National Press Night for the production held at West Yorkshire Playhouse on Tuesday 27 February, 7.30pm. This House will mark the opening of the Playhouse’s Spring / Summer 18 season before the production embarks on an extensive UK Tour.

West Yorkshire Playhouse Artistic Director James Brining said: “I saw the original production at the National Theatre in 2012 and I’m thrilled audiences in Leeds will have the opportunity to experience it in the Quarry Theatre here at the Playhouse. This will be our fourth collaboration with Headlong in as many years and the relevance of the play, as British politics lurches from one crisis to another, remains as strong as when I first saw it. Jeremy Herrin and his excellent creative team have produced a compelling piece of contemporary theatre and I can’t wait to see it in our space.”

Roll back to 1974. The corridors of Westminster ring with the sound of infighting and backbiting as Britain’s political parties battle to change the future of the nation, whatever it takes. In an era of chaos, both hilarious and shocking, fist fights break out in the parliamentary bars, high-stake tricks and games are played, while sick or dying MPs are carried through the lobby to register their crucial votes as the government hangs by a thread.

Set in the engine rooms of Westminster, This House strips politics down to the practical realities of those behind the scenes; the whips who roll up their sleeves and on occasion bend the rules to shepherd and coerce a diverse chorus of MPs within the Mother of all Parliaments.

This House is directed by Headlong Artistic Director Jeremy Herrin (People, Places and Things, National Theatre and West End Tour), and designed by Rae Smith (War Horse, National Theatre, Barber Shop Chronicles, West Yorkshire Playhouse/National Theatre/Fuel, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, West Yorkshire Playhouse), with lighting design Paul Constable, music by Stephen Warbeck, choreography by Scott Ambler and sound by Ian Dickinson. Casting is to be announced.

This House is produced on tour by Jonathan Church Productions and Headlong.

West Yorkshire Playhouse announces five-year partnership with SOYO

Posted on March 13, 2018

West Yorkshire Playhouse has announced a five-year cultural partnership with SOYO as part of the landmark Playhouse redevelopment project. Confirmed as a Principal Capital Partner, SOYO (part of the Yorkshire-based Caddick Group) provides a welcome boost to the Playhouse’s redevelopment and vital financial support through this period of revitalisation. SOYO, the £300m redevelopment within Leeds’ […]